Watching Voltron: Legendary Defender (-Lance, NO SPOILERS)
by Crystallion12
Summary: Because I'm apparently not the only one who actually wants one of these, soooo... I will provide for those google searchers wondering why this hasn't really been done yet. Pfft. I'll probably never finish this... Ah well. Although viewers present will be watching S1, the Paladins are set a bit further in time- doesn't really need to be specified. Enjoy!


**Prologue** : Welcome To The Show, Paladins, Friends. And Family!

 _A 'Watching the Show' Fanfiction by Crystallion12. Can also be found on Amino._

X-x-X

 _Poof._

"Lance- egh- gerroff!" Keith shouted, as he squirmed. Hunk moaned in pain, Pidge cradled protectively in the crook of Shiro's arm. Coran stood up stiffly, rubbing a lump forming on his head, Allura not far behind, expression wary and cautious. She held out a hand, helping Shiro to his feet. He frowned.

"Where… Are we? Is this…" He blinked. "A cinema?"

"You're kidding me right now," Hunk groaned. He sat up, and inhaled loudly. "Oh, oh, you're right. You're right. This IS a CINEMA! What the heck are we- "

 _WeeEeeEee-_ An odd, high-pitched squealing noise- like the half-sobbing cry of a fangirl- reached their ears, seemingly coming from a giant folder of papers that fell from the ceiling, as light as a feather… And landed promptly on Coran's head with a thunk-ing noise reminiscent of a crashing bell. Coran nearly crumbled under its apparent weight- how odd. "OUCH! Quiznak-!"

Hunk winced on the advisor's behalf. "Wow, man, just… You okay? Man. We just can't catch a break, can we?"

Allura raised a brow, quirking her lips in a sort of frown. "It would… Certainly seem so."

Pidge wriggled from free Shiro's grip and poked Hunk's knee. Lance sighed at the unmoving body. "Come on, Hunk, get up," Lance nagged, getting a grumble in return. Lance huffed indignantly. Keith, their Red Paladin (goodness, the Lion Swap had been a nightmare) folded his arms, in quite the grumpy, moody way he did. He looked at the black walls, velvety red carpet, and tall ceiling- VERY tall ceiling- and the five enormous raised platforms, lifting up in slightly varying heights, the platforms like the daises of thrones. They were actually comfortable-looking, colour-coded. From right to left- blue, red, black, green and yell-

 _Oh._

Keith blinked. These… Were these for THEM?

He noticed (ever the observant one, aside from Shiro, who was busy trying to calm everyone else down) that while there were endless rows of cushiony chairs in the middle of the long, rectangular room, aside from the 'thrones', they could see another stage set at the back of the room, smaller, on a level below the black dais and just in front. A pink and orange couch was placed there, slightly separated in the middle by a metal bar, topped with this big Altean-blue button, with smaller ones lining down towards the wall.

"This," He muttered, "Is crazy, and it's definitely been planned out. Man. What extravagance. Whoever's behind this must be crazy about us."

Shiro looked, inquiringly, at his second-in-command. "What do you mean?"

Keith jerked his head towards the scenery. "Look. Those seats match us and our Lions. Who are the other seats for?"

Pidge put a finger on her chin, moving forwards. She frowned and looked at the green 'throne', and nodded. "He's right," She said, and grinned, voice growing increasingly excited. "Aaaand, I'll bet… That we're going to watch something, about us, and these are where we sit! Allura sits there next to Coran, and they can control the film at will! There must be things our mystery admirer wants to show us!"

"Yeah- yeah! That makes sense. Oh, this- this is so exciting!"

They looked to Shiro, seeking an answer. He shrugged and handed the first paper to Coran. "Well, that's what the message says. Our… admirer," He paused, ignoring Keith's slight smirk, "Must be some otherworldly presence, I guess. I've given up on trying to understand this reality. No Slav or Sven jokes, Lance. So, we should be expecting guests, right?"

"According to this, there are," Coran reported. He stroked his moustache, looking around. They waited.

"Well?"

"Nothing's happening," Shiro murmured. He fixed Coran with a slightly harder look. "Is there anything, a signal, a time slot? I don't see any clocks here."

Lance shrugged, standing beside two double doors, sitting just underneath the enormous cinema screen at the forefront of the theatre. "Like the Lions do it, maybe you just have to knock," He stated, quite calmly, but as soon as he touched the doorknob.

"LOOK OUT!"

The Blue Paladin screamed- and leapt back, backed up closer to the door, and then shouted something about… Raining men.

"Oh, my, GOSH," Hunk muttered. He turned, wide-eyed, to the others. "Uh, guys? You seeing this? Or am I just going crazy?" Pidge had to readjust her glasses, blinking, stunned.

"What the-?"

Shiro and Allura raised brows- Keith jumped back, hackles raised in alarm, and Coran had a pondering look, as though wondering idly if this was normal Earthling behaviour.

Indeed- falling people. Raining men. (And women).

From the ceiling.

They landed with mixed reactions- yelps and squeaks and curses, all of the sort. One or two looked positively grouchy, sleepy- probably having just woken up, perhaps, or in the middle of a nap- ("damn those time zones…") and like they were really, REALLY just done with the world's games. Shiro could relate, honestly.

Shiro picked up another folded piece of paper and read it aloud, while the humans kept on groaning pitifully, looking baffled.

"It says… Something like… This handwriting is awful- alright. Sorry if they didn't come through the door, I MAY have messed up there, beware of raining men- what the? And- and… insert music? Punny music?"

"Memes, Shiro. Keep reading!"

The Black Paladin rolled his eyes, and made a 'hmph' sort of noise. "It's not very exciting. Just says what we already know, basically. Oh, and… What does it mean, sorry if you're allergic to dogs?"

Pidge's eyes widened. She launched himself at the masses- barking echoing through the enormous chamber- and a fawn-coloured dog charged out the heap, tail wagging madly, eyes bright and shiny. It leapt up at her, entire back end wiggling side-to-side with it.

"Bae-Bae!" She cried, laughing- the canine kept jumping, trying to lick her cheeks with sloppy kisses. "Oh, I missed you!"

"Katie…?"

Pidge's head snapped up. The Paladins wore expressions of 'what's a Katie'- until Shiro blinked, recognition gilded in his eyes and posture- the Green Paladin whimpered. Pidge found herself launching into the arms of her mother, tearful, mumbling nonsensically into her shoulder. Their sobs gained the attention of the others- eyes widened, as suddenly, things made sense. A missing daughter reuniting with her mother- it was a scene of reuniting loved ones.

"Family, friends, a few others and enemies to come watch Voltron," Shiro sighed. "Ohhh boy."

"What do you MEAN, enemies?"

"Family? You mean- Mom? MOM!" Lance threw himself at the masses. The people were suddenly less of 'what's happening?' and were now split up into people calling for each other. Shiro smiled warmly, seeing his Paladins' faces light up- Hunk was crying just at the sound of his mother's voice calling for him.

"Go on, Hunk. I'm not stopping you," Shiro said gently. "I'll wait here."

"This is all happening a bit quickly for my liking," Keith muttered, decidedly clinging to Shiro's side although they'd split up. The older male chuckled, ruffling his mess of black hair. Keith tried to not sound like he was viciously snarling at the embarrassing action, and turned to a jolt of surprise. He was face-to-face with a young woman, with dark brown hair and paler skin, and green eyes- he couldn't quite pinpoint who she must be, even knowing more about Lance and his family, nowadays. A sister? She certainly looked like him…

"Uh…"

"Say hi to my Sis, Keith," Lance shouted from across the room- half choked by tears, moving to embrace a tough-built man- another one of his many family members.

Keith mumbled under his breath. "Hi."

He hated socialising.

The girl snorted, turning on her heel. She stepped to Lance's side without another word. Shiro laughed- Keith only glared. "What?"

"Your face… Uh- you… know what? Never mind. Carry on."

"Shirogane."

The Black Paladin seized up. Something rose inside him- wary, distrusting. It hissed, demanding he protect his team- protect them- keep them happy, keep them safe. It took a moment to calm his instincts, although he wouldn't admit to it. As smoothly as possible he turned, coming eye to eye with Commander Iverson.

"Commander. Good to see you again."

Wrenching out the hold of a relative, Lance felt it necessary to come to his leader's aid; he scowled, and slanted his chin up so he could narrow his eyes threateningly at Iverson "Hey, leave Space Dad alone! He's gone through enough without dealing with your sh- mmph! MMHMM!"

"Lance," Shiro scolded gently, slipping a grateful look at Coran for halting that particular train of speech. "That's no way to speak about your commanding officers."

He turned and looked the Garrison officer in the eyes- he resisted flinching. He supposed the last time they'd met, it hadn't been so friendly.

"How have you been, Shiro? I understand the circumstances have changed, so I apologise for… Any past actions."

"That's… All-right, sir. And… Not bad. I'm good."

 _Why did he have a nagging feeling that would soon be proven somewhat untrue?_

X-x-X

Murmurs echoed throughout the theatre, like whispers in the wind; the chairs, now filling rapidly. Apparently, they had been taking so long 'chit-chatting and not doing the important stuff', that their 'adoring admirer' started to chuck random objects- shoes, oranges, books- down at them, once again, from the ceiling, ushering them to their places. Shiro wasn't sure what to think of all this. To say he was concerned- well, that should be obvious, but…

He didn't want anyone to get hurt. So far, there weren't many viewers, but judging by the yet empty rows of seats- there'd be more as they progressed.

Amused, he saw Lance and Hunk laughing, talking from across the room, through their headsets- the way it was all set up, close-fit and cosy, they'd probably be able to hear one another, regardless, if the cinema quieted down. Lance was going on about them having the best seats- and THRONES! Like they were kings!

He chuckled quietly to himself, and turned his gaze to the left again, where Pidge- Katie Holt- was.

His heart went out to his little girl (err- his little Paladin) sitting silently in her chair, head propped on her tucked-in knees, looking dejected. He tried not to dwell much on how lonely Colleen Holt- her mother- looked, sat alone with two empty seats beside her (would Matt be here eventually? Commander Holt?). Well, at least Lance's- aunt, he believed- was quite happy to chat comfortably with her, while they waited for the show to start.

Keith only had him, now. They still didn't know where, or who Keith's Galra lineage (or, just his mother) was.

Sighing, he stared at the armrest, where his prosthetic arm sat limp, hidden by the Paladin armour.

He glanced at the guests present.

 _Time for the truth to come out. Time for us to look back- and hopefully, we'll still be okay by the end of it._

X-x-X


End file.
